Doug Darch, Joan Gale, Jeff Kauffman, Keith Reed and Jason Greis, Publish Article on the Illinois Nurse

"Illinois Nurse Staffing by Patient Acuity ACT Requires Illinois Hospitals to Implement Written Staffing Plans"

Doug Darch, Joan Gale, Jeff Kauffman, Keith Reed and Jason Greis, published their article, "Illinois Nurse Staffing by Patient Acuity ACT Requires Illinois Hospitals to Implement Written Staffing Plans,” in the Fall 2007 issue of DePaul Health Law Institute Newsletter. The article discusses relevant provisions of Illinois' recently passed Nurse Staffing by Patient Acuity Act, which became effective January 1, 2008. 

The authors note that the Act requires Illinois hospitals to create one or more nursing care committees, at least fifty percent of which must be comprised of registered professional nurses who provide direct patient care. These nursing care committees are responsible for making recommendations to management for developing a hospital-wide staffing plan. 

The Act, which was sponsored by the Illinois Hospital Association and supported by the Illinois Nursing Association is unclear regarding what penalties would or could be imposed if a hospital cannot or does not comply with its written staffing plan due to a staffing shortage. Further, the authors observe, “Since the Act requires nurses employed by Illinois hospitals to participate in a nursing care committee that is tasked with proposing certain work conditions to hospital management in the form of nurse-to-patient staffing ratios, it would appear that such a committee might be a ‘labor organization’ under the NLRA. If that is the case, a hospital could then be in violation of the NLRA if it dominates of interferes with the formation or administration of the nursing care committee, or contributes financial or other support to it.”